Long Live Money in Anime Crossover

Paper money is money, coins are money, checks are money, gold and silver are money, and going further back, copper and iron coins are money. And going even further back, seashells can also be money…

Upon thinking about it, Gao Hai was stunned. He suddenly couldn't explain what money was.

"Let me answer on behalf of Lord Gao: money is actually nothing."

Gao Hai stared blankly and said, "Nothing at all?"

"That's right, gold, silver, copper, iron, paper money, seashells—these can all be money, but they are not money in themselves. Money has always been just a concept; it represents exchange."

"trade?"

The old emperor's expression was somewhat solemn, and he pondered those two words.

"That's right, trading, trading has always been the essence of all money in this world."

"No matter what form money takes, it is ultimately a certificate of transaction. Money only exists when there is a transaction; without a transaction, even gold and silver are just scrap metal."

"Transaction...certificate..."

The old emperor muttered to himself, then suddenly seemed to realize something, saying, "If the data in the bank is also money, then the disappearance of this data means the disappearance of the transaction vouchers."

“However,” the old emperor’s voice amplified, “although the transaction document has disappeared, the things that were traded are still here!”

The old emperor's eyes lit up, and he said, "The Chinese Empire still has countless things that can be traded, all the material industries."

"The money disappeared... but it didn't really have any fundamental impact."

Author's Note:

This is the third update, and there will be another one shortly.

123 All the wealth in the world is ownerless.

"No, it still has an impact."

Gao Hai interjected, rubbing his temple with one hand. For someone without professional knowledge in this area, understanding these things was not an easy task.

After all, the Chinese Federation in this world certainly doesn't have world-shaking masterpieces like Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought-Deng Xiaoping Theory, nor does it have popular science reading materials like the "N-piece set of political life textbooks for junior and senior high school students."

The fact that the two of them could keep up with Mo Mo's train of thought and understand the underlying principles is no less than innovating their own ideas from scratch, which is enough to prove their excellence.

The old emperor needs no introduction; the fact that Gao Hai was able to sit in this position at around thirty years old proves his profound experience and capabilities.

At present, Gao Hai is racking his brains to think about the impact of everything Mo Mo has done on the Chinese Empire.

"Now I understand. Even if the money disappears, what disappears is only a certificate of the transaction. But the wealth that our Chinese Empire originally possessed is still there, and nothing is missing."

Mo Mo nodded and said, "This child is teachable."

Gao Hai rolled his eyes, ignoring Mo Mo's opportunistic behavior, and said, "However, there is still a major problem, which is... without money, everything in the world becomes ownerless, the legitimacy of transactions disappears, wouldn't the world be in complete chaos!"

"Although the goods are still there, everyone is out of money, and trade and circulation in the Chinese Empire will come to a complete standstill. So what awaits the Chinese Empire next is still chaos?"

"Those powerful warlords are no loss, but what about the common people? Their wealth has vanished. What are you going to do?"

"Are you trying to make His Majesty the Emperor lose the trust of the world?!"

Gao Hai finally finished organizing his thoughts and wanted to ask the Emperor for his opinion on Mo Mo. However, when Gao Hai looked at the Emperor, he found that the Emperor was still deep in thought and seemed not to have heard what Gao Hai had just said.

At this moment, the old emperor suddenly spoke, addressing Mo Mo, saying, "Mo Mo... you must have done something else, right? This chaotic situation is certainly not what you wanted to see."

"Given your habits, you must have made thorough preparations; otherwise, you couldn't have stirred up such chaos."

"Your code of conduct is to stir up trouble, fish in troubled waters, then quell the trouble, and in the end, the blame falls on others while you gain fame."

Mo Mo looked surprised and said, "It seems that His Majesty the Emperor knows me very well!"

"learn?"

The old emperor smiled and shook his head, saying, "I don't know you, and I dare not say I know you. I doubt anyone in the world would dare to say they know you. However, it's not difficult to see your style of doing things, because you haven't hidden it. After all, even if others knew your style, they still couldn't resist the overwhelming momentum you've stirred up."

"Tell me, Momo, what's your trump card?"

Mo Mo smiled slightly and said, "Since His Majesty the Emperor has seen through it, I won't keep you in suspense any longer. I did indeed clear all the data from all the computers in the Chinese Empire, but I didn't really delete all the data. All the data has been backed up on my end."

Mo Mo sent the information to the two people again, saying, "This densely packed document is just a rough outline of the catalog. The electronic data of the entire Chinese Empire is stored on the server in my Mo Mansion command center. This is one of my trump cards."

Gao Hai glanced at it and immediately exclaimed, "You...you're just being ridiculous! Since the data is all there, why don't we just restore it directly? Why all this fuss? What's the point of all this nonsense you've been spouting today?"

“Indeed,” Mo Mo did not deny Gao Hai’s words, saying, “If we give the data to the local authorities to restore, they will immediately resolve this chaos, but Lord Gao…”

Mo Mo's smile grew even brighter, as bright as the warm sunshine in spring, but his words plunged Gao Hai into an icy abyss.

Why would I need to restore this data?

Gao Hai was stunned and speechless for a moment.

Why do we need to restore this data?

"Of course, it's for the restoration of the stability of the Chinese Empire, for His Majesty the Emperor's empire, and for the whole of China!"

"Then, does His Majesty's empire belong to the Luoyang Military Region, the entire Chinese Empire, or the entire Chinese Federation?"

"Outrageous! His Majesty the Emperor's empire belongs to the entire Chinese Federation, not to this tiny place like the Luoyang Military Region!"

"However, in reality, what the emperor actually controls right now is the Luoyang Military Region, isn't it?"

"you!"

Gao Hai was trembling with anger. Mo Mo's words were indeed treasonous, but he knew that attacking Mo Mo for being treasonous was of no use. In comparison, figuring out what Mo Mo was up to was much more important.

"Mo Mo," the Emperor said in a calm tone, "tell us. Don't take advantage of us two laymen. Since you still have all the data and can quell the chaos at any time, yet you don't intend to do so, what exactly are you planning to do?"

"What are you doing?" Mo Mo blinked and said, "Of course, we're talking about reason!"

Mo Mo continued, "You see, right now all transactions in the entire Chinese Empire have lost their legitimacy, and there are no longer any receipts. Most of the wealth has become ownerless, and the wealth and assets in the hands of local warlords have been weakened to the extreme..."

"Isn't this a good opportunity?"

"Opportunity? What opportunity? Do you intend to seize local assets by force?"

Gao Hai frowned and asked, but after asking, his eyes widened suddenly, as if he understood.

"Ah, it seems Lord Gao understands."

Mo Mo's smile remained unchanged, yet this unchanging smile made Gao Hai feel that it was becoming increasingly profound.

“We are reasonable people who uphold the law and represent the emperor’s righteous cause. How could we do something like plundering and extortion? The best way to deal with ownerless property is naturally to nationalize it, and transactions not protected by law should be banned according to the law. As for the losses of ordinary people and skilled workers…”

Mo Mo pointed to the data in front of him and said, "We should do our best to supplement the data. If there are any errors, we can make up for them with money. We should also help essential industries and businesses restore their data and assets so that they can resume their original functions as soon as possible, thereby allowing the whole society to return to normal quickly."

"Finally, even if it's property already owned, the wealth actually controlled by local warlords and powerful families, we can reason with them amicably and buy it at market price, or even slightly higher than the market price!"

"We are all citizens of the Chinese Empire. We have money, so we can reason with each other slowly. Why resort to knives and guns for no reason?"

"Besides, as long as we continue to develop our army in Luoyang, even if we encounter those who are truly unreasonable and lawless, we can make them understand the majesty of the law, can't we, those who occupy unclaimed property and engage in illegal transactions at will?"

Mo Mo's voice was calm, but his words made the Emperor and Gao Hai completely understand what Mo Mo was up to and the plan he had devised from the very beginning.

From the very beginning, Mo Mo's information warfare was not just about the defense of Luoyang, nor was it just about dealing with those 300,000 troops. Mo Mo never took those 300,000 troops seriously.

Mo Mo's information warfare this time... wasn't just targeting the Luoyang Military Region, but the entire Chinese Empire!

Mo Mo... wants to seize all the wealth accumulated by the aristocratic families and warlords of the entire Chinese Empire over hundreds or thousands of years and put it into his own hands!

Moreover, Mo Mo's actions were reasonable, in line with public opinion, legal, timely, and in accordance with the emperor's righteousness, leaving no room for criticism from the public.

However, after Mo Mo's outburst, the wealth held by powerful families and warlords instantly became illegal and ownerless. Would they agree to that?

They definitely won't agree.

What if I disagree?

Go ahead and fight!

Occupying unclaimed property and engaging in illegal transactions are two crimes in themselves. In addition, with the previous attack on Luoyang by the Thirteen Allied Forces, it can be said that every local powerful family and warlord has a charge of treason on their head. For this crime alone, it would not be unreasonable for the emperor to kill their entire family.

Before the Battle of Luoyang, Mo Mo said he wanted to conquer the world, and the Emperor and Gao Hai would definitely think he was crazy, but not now.

This battle not only saved Luoyang, but also gave the Emperor and Gao Hai confidence in their own strength. It seemed that the military power of the local warlords was no longer a threat.

Although the old emperor and Gao Hai now understood, their minds were still reeling. Shock pounded in their heads, making them stare blankly at Mo Mo, as if they wanted to disassemble Mo Mo's head to see what kind of structure was inside.

Mo Mo's plan was utterly insane, directly targeting the entire Chinese Empire and its people. And ironically, Mo Mo's plan... was entirely feasible, provided that Luoyang's army had sufficient strength and that Luoyang had enough money to withstand the economic shocks the entire Chinese Empire would face.

"But……"

Gao Hai's voice was hoarse as he said, "Although the data in the banks has disappeared, the local warlord families still have plenty of gold, silver, and paper money in their hands. They will take this opportunity to seize these unclaimed items. In the end, it might be the ordinary people who suffer."

"If they use paper money to complete legal transactions, we can use the army to force our way through, but we still can't avoid being condemned."

This was Gao Hai's last question. If Mo Mo could answer even this question, then he would truly have nothing more to say.

However, Gao Hai's final question still elicited a confident smile from Mo Mo.

Author's Note:

PS: Thank you to the generous Gigantic for the 10000*2 reward and 24 monthly tickets, thank you to the newbie with the lolicon for the 1500 points reward and 2 monthly tickets, and thank you to the following for their monthly ticket support: Sleepy to the point of bursting, Huan Yi Yingluo, Su Jiuxun, Red and White with Faith, Wang, My Dad's Son is So Handsome, Maybe Only Once, Star Falling Feather, Snow Vegetable, and Yes, I am Hao Ren. Thank you everyone!

PS2: Fourth update, still eight chapters owed, but a generous donation of 200 yuan brings the total to ten chapters owed.

JKing, who's been consistently late with his updates, says he's gotten used to it... (A series of seemingly random, unrelated comments)

No money? Then throw money around!

"It seems you're already confident, Mo Mo. Why don't you stop keeping me in suspense?"

Seeing Mo Mo's expression, the Emperor was finally relieved, at least Mo Mo had a plan.

Although relying entirely on Momo is not a good feeling, the Emperor has no other choice now.

Momo nodded, then took out a banknote, a banknote that had been torn in half.

Not long ago, Momo tore this banknote in half in front of the Emperor and Gao Hai. Now, however, Momo has taken it out again.

"Spilled water cannot be gathered up again, and a broken mirror cannot be mended. Mo Mo, you've already split this banknote in two. Even if you try to repair it, it will inevitably leave cracks. In this situation, is there anything else you can do to the banknote?"

Gao Hai looked at Mo Mo with suspicion, truly unsure of what Mo Mo was thinking. However, the Emperor, glancing at the banknotes, seemed to vaguely understand something.

"The right to issue banknotes...is in our hands, Momer, you've said that before."

Gao Hai's eyes widened suddenly, and in an instant, he seemed to connect what Mo Mo had said before the battle with the current situation.

What is the current situation?